Discover The 6 Best Places for 2014
Richard Bangs is a judge in our “>
The hints are below. Can you guess these places?
6)
Richard Bangs is a judge in our “>
The hints are below. Can you guess these places?
6)
Several readers and a prominent young Jewish journalist wrote me over the holidays to ask why Brigham Young University, a member of the American Studies Association (ASA), has not joined over 100 universities in denouncing the ASA’s recent vote to support an academic boycott of Israeli universities. Although I very much oppose the inane ASA decision and would love for BYU to publicly denounce it, I’m not troubled by my alma mater’s silence on the issue so far. Here’s why:
1) BYU has been educating students at its Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies on Mount Scopus for 25 years. The center’s not going anywhere.
2) As a former diplomat, I have no idea why anyone would look to groups of liberal professors for guidance on geopolitics. If I have readers who do, I should note that much more influential academic groups like the American Association of University Professors and the Association of American Universities have come out against the boycott.
3) According to ASA’s official Facebook page, “[T]he ASA recognizes that members will review and negotiate specific guidelines for implementation [of the boycott] on a case-by-case basis and adopt them according to their individual convictions.” That leaves BYU and other member universities considerable leeway when dealing with Israeli institutions.
4) While Jewish institutions are used to speaking out on the issues of the day, Mormon institutions are not. Moreover, for better or for worse BYU has always adopted a neutral public position on the Israeli-Arab conflict. If it were to issue a statement opposing a boycott of Israel that is supported by a small group of university professors, it might then feel obligated to issue statements in the future whenever one side or the other feels that it needs help from universities.
When it comes to the LDS Church and Israel, we should always look to actions, not the absence of formal statements, to gauge the church's level of support for Israel and the Jewish people. I'm predicting with confidence that the ASA's insignificant boycott will have zero effect on this special relationship.
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A happy 2014 to all of my readers.
BYU and the ASA’s Israel boycott Read More »
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
Happy new year!
I've been woefully neglectful of this blog in recent months….mainly because I've been concentrating a lot of energy on the web site that I coordinate — please subscribe to the JHE news feed! You can use the subscribe buttons on the home page or on any of the news pages. The deal is that, on days that I post on the JHE news feed, you will receive one email with the links to the posts. Easy, convenient and informative, no?
As befits the change of year and change of seasons, I'm posting some examples of the wheel of the Zodiac, a traditional synagogue decorative device, from synagogues in Poland, Romania and Ukraine.
Cycle of the Zodiac in the replica of the ceiling of the wooden synagogue in Gwozdziec, now installed at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber
Recent JHE posts:
“>”Miracle” clean-up and care of Jewish cemetery in Myslowice, Poland
“>Happy 2014 — Gallery of Zodiac paintings from synagogues in Romania, Poland, Ukraine
Zodiac on ceiling of Beit Tfila Benjamin synagogue in Chernivtsi, Ukraine. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber
Zodiac on ceiling of disused synagogue in Siret, Romania. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber
Happy 2014 (and beyond)… and catching up Read More »